Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s contributions 1 – Let faith and reason remove the mosses of illusion

“When the stream of reason joins the river of ancient faiths, the stagnant mosses of illusion are swept away. And with the gradual flow of time when this unwanted stench will disappear, the knowledge of the Indians will blossom again.”

– Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Krishna Samhita

Shri Bhakti Siddhanta Sri Thakur ki Jai. Thank you.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of Shri Bhaktivinod Thakur, we’ll discuss in a series of short talks the distinctive contributions of Bhaktivinod Thakur to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. So in this talk, we will discuss about how he harmonized reason with faith or science with scripture. So we begin with a quote of Bhaktivinod Thakur from the Brahmasam, from the Krishna Samhita.
He says, when the stream of reason joins the river of ancient faith and the mosses of unwanted illusions are swept away. So the stagnant mosses of illusion are swept away. So it’s a beautiful metaphor.
A river is flowing and sometimes in the river, the mosses are there and the mosses not only obscure the clarity of the river, the mosses may also cause some strength and if some additional flow, some stream comes along, then the mosses get washed away. So the river, normally the river is a larger body of water, stream is smaller. So the river is ancient faith, the stream is reason.
Now Bhaktivinod Thakur lived at a very momentous juncture in the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and in the history of India at large. That was the time when into the throes of the, what is called as Bengal Renaissance, when the Western criticism of Hinduism, both from a scientific perspective and from inter-religious perspective. So from scientific perspective, the rationalized were criticizing many of the Hindu beliefs as unscientific, sentimental, even immoral.
And the Christian missionaries were criticizing the Hindu beliefs as immoral, pagan, idolatrous, polytheistic. And the Hindu, rather than directly converting to materialistic science, materialistic rationality or to Christianity, they try to re-envision their own tradition and reinvent it in various ways. So Bhaktivinod Thakur lived at such a time.
So the river of ancient faith refers to the received knowledge, which has been got, which he has got in the Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition. And the stream of reason refers to the modern approach towards things based on rationality primarily. So now, this is not an entirely polarly opposite or antipodal things that are brought together.
Reason was present even in the Vedic tradition. But the reason within the Vedic tradition was largely scripture based. That means scripture is considered to be the authority for gaining knowledge.
And then by reason, one harmonizes scriptural contradictions, one harmonizes the statements in scripture that are not harmonized, that seem to be contradictory with our everyday experience. And in that way, reason was utilized. So, if we see there were sciences also in the Vedic tradition, but these sciences were more or less in harmony with the knowledge that was given in the Vedic scriptures.
For example, Ayurveda accepts the existence of soul and then talks about bodily treatment. Now, this knowledge that had come in India through the westernization of India, which started almost 200 years ago, 250 years ago, if not longer, then that involved reason of a different kind. That reason was based on science.
And it was based largely on empiricism, observe the world and infer from that and understand how things are. And it was very impressive because the technology which resulted from this rationality was decisive in the Britishers gaining power and winning over their opponents and establishing themselves as politically powerful because of their intellectual powerfulness. That means because of the technology which they developed with their intellect.
So, how did Bhaktivinod Thakur bring about this harmonization of reason and faith? So, among the many things that he did, one of the most important things was that he points out that scripture is primarily a source of spiritual knowledge. And he says when science oversteps the jurisdiction in his Chaitanya Shiksha Amrit, he says the misfortune of science is that it extends beyond its authority and makes statements about things for which it has no authority. And therefore, it misleads people.
So, he preserved the spiritual sanctity of scripture by explaining that how knowledge which we get from scripture is always transcendental, eternal and spiritually potent. But he dealt with the seeming contradictions between scripture and science by explaining that primarily their jurisdictions are different. So, in this way, he created space for practitioners or for his peers at that time, the other intellectuals and other educated people, the Bhadraloka to be able to harmonize the two.
So, actually that is the approach, although the specific strategies may vary in subsequent Acharyas, but that is the approach that has been adopted in our tradition thereof since then. So, rather than rejecting science per se or rejecting scripture per se, rejecting science as anti-scriptural or rejecting scripture as anti-scientific, there is a harmonization. So, if we see in a broad sense, Vishal Prabhupada did not just criticize science and scientists, but he said utilize science to establish the existence of God, to establish the glory of God.
So, rather than seeing these two streams as contradictory, as pulling apart, what he sees is both streams are serving the same purpose. What is that? Removing illusions, removing the mosses of illusions. So, ultimately, the purpose of life is enlightenment.
We want to understand who we are, we want to understand what are the purpose of life is and how we are going to achieve that purpose. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakur in his talk of Bhagavata, Theology and Philosophy, he explains that no one doesn’t have to reject what one has learned in the past. One can build on what one has learned in the past.
So, in his context, what he was saying is that whatever knowledge we have acquired from the scriptures, that is knowledge which is passed down, passed down for millennia. And rather than rejecting it in the name of science, he says we build on it. So, we use the scriptural knowledge to get understanding of the ultimate purpose of life and how to achieve that.
And we use the scientific knowledge for acting and living in this world. And this intellectual understanding which he gave eventually became the foundation of Yukta Vairagya, which Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur and Shri Prabhupada adopted quite enthusiastically. Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur was among the few people who had elegant vehicles like Rolls-Royce.
And Shri Prabhupada used planes and Shri Prabhupada used printing press and other technology to share Krishna consciousness. So, essentially, we are not scientists, we are not spiritualists. We are souls.
We are individuals who are in search of knowledge. And from wherever we can get knowledge and become enlightened, we use that. So, by recognizing that the common purpose of the scientific quest and the spiritual quest is the removal of misconceptions, Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur envisions that both of them are stream, both of them are bodies of water, flowing bodies of water.
A river is flowing, a stream is flowing. And whatever the mosses that are obstructing, those mosses are to be removed. So, in this way, he brought in a new perspective, which is going to serve all generations of Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
Rather than envisioning a conflict between science and spirituality, science and scripture, and demanding that one reject science for the sake of scripture or reject scripture for the sake of science, one utilizes both in the pursuit of truth, understanding that ultimately, both are expressions of the human existential quest for enlightenment. And by contextualizing and harmonizing science with scripture, we human beings can live in this world and achieve the ultimate purpose of life. This is also talked about in the Ishopanishad, where it says, vidyam cha vidyam cha yastad vedo bhayamsah, avidyaya amrityam tvirtha vidyaya amritam asnute, that one has to have knowledge of the spiritual subject matter and the material subject matter.
So, vidya refers to knowledge about spiritual practices and spiritual purposes of life. And avidya refers to material knowledge, knowledge of how to live in this world. And when both of them are together, then we can move forward.
And how they can be brought together, the foundational vision is provided by Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Thank you.